Master of observation Brenner is dead at 78

LOS ANGELES -- Other veteran comics could head straight to "The Tonight Show" couch to banter with Johnny Carson, but David Brenner had to do a stand-up routine when he was a guest.

Finally, Carson told a puzzled Brenner why.

"I like to sit back, smoke a cigarette and laugh for six minutes," Brenner, in a 2013 interview with CBS, recalled him saying.

Carson's regard for Brenner, who died in his New York City home Saturday at age 78 after battling cancer, made him one of the most frequent visitors to "Tonight" as a guest and substitute host who was on more than 150 times.

And NBC's late-night show, in return, made Brenner's career.

It made the former documentary filmmaker into a hot comedian, one who was ubiquitous on other talk shows and game shows.

The lanky, always sharply dressed Brenner also briefly hosted his own syndicated talk show in 1987 and starred in four HBO specials.

Brenner moved with the times, trading routines about the humor of everyday life for jokes about social and political issues.

Brenner, who was raised in working-class south Philadelphia and graduated with honors from Temple University, was "always there helping a bright young comedian, whether it be Richard Lewis, Freddie Prinze or Jimmie Walker, and he was still doing it until the very end," said his friend and publicist, Jeff Abraham.

Brenner's brand of observational comedy became a staple for other standups, including Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser.

Brenner's take on his career, as he described it in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press, was that he put family before stardom.

He said a long custody battle with a girlfriend over their son, Cole, forced him to curtail his TV appearances and visibility beginning in the mid-1980s, when Brenner lived in Aspen, Colo.

"In a nutshell, I couldn't work more than 50 nights a year (out of town) or I'd be an absentee father," he said. "That was when they were giving out the talk shows, the sitcoms."

He was asked if he regretted his decision. "I didn't even make a decision. I didn't even think about it. How could you not do it? I don't mean to sound noble," Brenner said. "Besides, I come from the slums of Philadelphia and everything in my life is profit. My downside is what most people would strive a lifetime to get to."